The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State

"After the dramatic sweep across Iraq last summer, authors churned out a lot of books of variable quality, analyzing ISIS. This is the best book on ISIS I’ve read. It explains the group’s ideas, history, and structure in an in-depth scholarly way that is nonetheless accessible to the novice reader. Most important, it dissects the apocalyptic narrative that ISIS puts forth, particularly the view that their mission is to bring on the “end times.” Anyone who argues that the best way to fight this threat is by putting hundreds of thousands of Western troops on the ground should read the section on ISIS’s belief that the Apocalypse will be brought about by a major battle between ISIS and the so-called Army of Rome —meaning non-Muslim westerners—on the plains of Dabiq (which is a small town in northwestern Syria). We would be increasing their ability to recruit and likely prolonging their lifespan if we played into their narrative that way."